Mims Davies MP urges Prime Minister to scrap Family Farm Tax in first budget
Mims Davies MP for East Grinstead, Uckfield, and the villages has added her name to a letter from Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Victoria Atkins MP and Harriet Cross MP urging the Prime Minister to fully reverse the changes to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief when the Autumn Budget is delivered on the 28th of October.
The letter, signed by Conservative politicians from Westminster, Holyrood and the Senedd, warns that the sector faces a “once in a generation crisis”, with more than 6,000 agricultural businesses ceasing trading since Labour’s Family Farm Tax was announced in October 2024.
It goes on to say that, as a direct consequence of the farming inheritance tax changes, three in five agribusinesses anticipate reducing capital investment in their businesses by up to 20% to save for future inheritance tax burdens.
In the letter, it’s highlighted that the Prime Minister had previously indicated a willingness to look again at the removal of the Family Farm Tax, with the Conservatives now urging him to act in order to save family farms.
Mims warns that without a thriving farming sector, food security, employment and our rural economies will suffer. They have urged him to finally listen to farmers and fully reverse these “damaging measures”.
Mims Davies MP said:
The farming sector is facing a once in a generation crisis because of Labour’s damaging Family Farm Tax.
More than 6,000 agricultural businesses across the country have ceased trading and one in four have reduced their workforces since these cruel inheritance tax changes were announced.
One in four family farms have already cut jobs because of Labour’s anti-farming inheritance tax changes. If the Prime Minister doesn’t change course, the consequences will be catastrophic.
Farmers used to invest billions into growing the wider rural economy (including here in EGU), but because of Labour’s anti-farming policies investment is falling as farmers look with fear and uncertainty to the future.
Andy Burnham should grow a backbone and use his first budget to fully reverse the farming inheritance changes before it’s too late.
This is the latest stage in the Conservatives’ campaign to axe the Family Farm and Business Taxes and follows seven votes in Parliament forced by the Conservatives, a petition signed by over 300,000 people and Conservatives supporting farmers on their demonstrations in Westminster and across the country.
